Let's Act Like We're Strangers
by battlegirlaria
Summary: Grimsley and Shauntal decide to spice up their relationship by pretending they're strangers meeting for the first time. However, neither of them is particularly good at it... Stupid pick-up lines and awkwardness ahoy! Rated T because of suggestive content, but nothing overly explicit. (I do not own any of the characters or Pokemon mentioned in the story...as much as I want to...)


If there were any place the man could get lucky, it was at the new casino in Driftveil City. Under mayor/gym leader Clay, the city was positively bursting with new developments, mostly hotels. It wasn't surprising that a casino soon popped up there. The man was a gambler by nature and was thrilled to have a new playground.

He was dressed much more casually than usual. He preferred to be seen in public in nicely tailored suits, but today he was sporting a white t-shirt and dark wash jeans. He threw a black leather jacket over the ensemble. He looked like a greaser. The only thing he refused to change was his iconic hairstyle. That was one compromise he wouldn't make, even for this "game."

The woman also changed her style completely. For one, she would never be caught dead in a casino, were she not trying to "accidently-on-purpose" be found by the man. Secondly, she was barelegged in a breezy, pastel romper and heeled sandals. She couldn't remember the last time she wore an ensemble that didn't mainly consist of shades of purple, black, navy or red. Her usual smoky makeup was swapped for rose golds and neutrals and her short purple bob was curled to the best of her ability.

As uncomfortable as she felt, she still caught the man's eye. Her slender but softly curvy frame leaned against a roulette table. Now was his chance to capture her attention.

"If I help you win this next round, would you pay me back by letting me know your name?" He said, coming up behind the woman, holding her by the shoulders. She looked up at the man, shrugging his hold off.

"I don't need your help to win. Besides, what's it to you, Flock of Wingulls?" She said, ruffling his hair and teasing him for looking like the iconic lead singer of the 80s band.

He blushed at the embarrassing nickname, but vowed to retort it, "I've never heard that one before." His voice was sarcastic and low in the woman's ear.

"Well, when you go around with a hairstyle like that, what did you expect, mister?" she asked with a smirk. She turned to the table and placed five chips as her bet for all red tiles.

He returned her look with a devious grin and slid his hands down her waist to her hips, "when you go around with a body like this did you expect me not to want to make your name my business?"

The woman's voice rose as she broke character, "that was the stupidest line I've ever heard Grim—"

"Babe!" he whispered in a hushed and flustered tone, "keep playing along!"

The woman giggled. The other patrons at the roulette who had been uncomfortable at the couple's previous flirtation now just looked confused. However all attention returned to the table when the ball landed in the pocket. 11. A black number. The losing chips were all swept away, including the woman's.

"You went for one of the safest bets and still got no payoff. Where is your sense of adventure? Don't you want to live dangerously?"

The woman sighed, "I guess I'm just a little too 'safe' for you. Isn't that…boring to a man of your tastes?"

"I can assure you, beautiful; I could never find you boring. However, you only have a few chips left. May I?" The man asked, raising his brow at the woman.

The woman nodded without a word and he laid the remaining chips on the table at various numbers. 9. 19. 27. 35. The little white ball spun in the roulette wheel. It landed in the pocket for 18, so close to one of the numbers that the man bet. The woman ran out of chips. She sighed and began to walk away from the table. The man followed.

"So, your random numbers didn't pay off either. Guess your lucky numbers aren't so lucky…" she taunted.

"Those weren't random numbers or lucky numbers. Put the digits together and you get my Xtransceiver number. 919-2735."

The woman laughed. "I almost forgot about th—oops." She blushed. She was as bad at keeping the façade up as he was at flirting.

"Well since uh there's nothing left here to keep you entertained, why don't you accompany me to my hotel room across the street? I can show you my Bisharp…" he said in a seductive tone.

The woman's eyes bulged out and she started to giggle like crazy. He was infinitely worse at flirting than she was at keeping up the façade. The man frowned. She clearly didn't appreciate his attempt at a sexual line.

"Okay Grim, I'm sorry but _that_ had to have been the worst line on the freaking planet!" she wheezed out through her giggles. Her face was bright red. The act was officially over and any pretense that they were really into this stranger scenario was shattered.

"Well babe, at least I'm TRYING to stay in character! You're just acting like your normal sassy self!" Grimsley complained.

"You fell for my sassy attitude when we first started dating! If you came at me talking about…your Bisharp using Iron Head on my Frillish I would probably have rejected you!" Shauntal giggled at the sheer absurdity of the sentence.

"You're right; I did like how the quiet girl I came to know actually had a bite to her. I'm sorry Shauntal, I just really wanted to make things a little more interesting. I know you said you were interested but I think I took it too far, dragging you here to the casino, making you not call me by my name. It was all so…hey wait! I never said anything about using Iron Head on your 'Frillish'. You made that one up!"

Shauntal smirked and without a word headed towards the hotel, gesturing for Grimsley to follow. It wasn't until they were in the elevator on the way to their hotel room that Shauntal spoke again.

"Now that you're actually my Grim and not some weird stranger in a casino…maybe I want you to use Iron Head on my Frillish," she breathed into his ear. She looked up at him with a devilish grin. Grimsley returned the smile; after all, this was how they intended to end the night anyway. The second the elevator opened, he scooped his girlfriend up into his arms and opened their hotel room as fast as he could humanly muster.

In the moment he didn't even care that his plans to spice things up didn't go exactly as planned. He learned that Shauntal liked their relationship as it was, and that things could still be great without elaborate seduction plans. In spite of it all, his 'Bisharp' did get to use 'Iron Head' on her 'Frillish'…and it was supereffective.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ **Yeah I know this whole thing was pretty silly but I like the idea of Shauntal and Grimsley having a playful relationship. The Pokemon sex puns were supposed to be awful and cheesy. ;)  
Also in case my writing style makes sense to only me and not anyone else: the reason I started calling them just "the man" and "the woman" was to play along with their game of acting like strangers, but once the facade broke, _that's_ when I started to call them "Grimsley" and "Shauntal".**


End file.
